Strong Medicine for a Healthier America

American Journal of Preventive Medicine supplement examines how social factors affect health and offers recommendations for action.

A supplement to the latest issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (AJPM), funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, includes six articles and a broad array of commentaries that provide a fundamental understanding of the fact that where, we live, learn, work and play has as much to do with our health as the health care we receive.

The authors–including Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, David R. Williams, Michael G. Marmot and more–address factors beginning with early childhood education, to homes and communities, to the economic rationale for improving the lives of disadvantaged Americans. Together, the collection provides an in-depth look at why some Americans are so much healthier than others and why Americans are not the healthiest people in the world.

The AJPM supplement builds on the work of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Commission to Build a Healthier America, which was charged with exploring how factors outside the health care system impact health and crafting recommendations to improve the health of all Americans. Members of the Commission’s research team and former staff director David R. Williams are among the authors discussing the rationale for the Commission’s 10-recommendation blueprint and the need for action to address the social determinants of health.